Badaga KAPP panjayats…?!

In the olden days, Badagas lived a very simple but highly cohesive life. Evey village -hatti, consisted of one or two ‘families or Kudumbas’. Each kudumba, as the name indicates, consisted of brothers and they usually lived in the same street – ‘thara’. The ancestral home was given to the youngest son and, due to space constraints, the elder brothers moved out to build separate houses.

The youngest son [when married] was expected to take care of the elderly parents. The sister(s) married off to other hattis were always welcome to the parents house and for the children of the these females, their parents house was a source of great safety and security and the brother’s house was a sacred house known as ‘GURU Manay’. Though the property was given ONLY to sons, the married daughters could come back to the parents house anytime in case of any matrimonial discord. The daughters were given all the respect and they never felt neglected. Mind you, this was a time when girls were married off at a very young age and in most of cases, not educated.

Every family lived a contented life with total cooperation. This, of course, was the time when the undivided Hindu family wealth and property was given to only sons in our Country.

But all that changed over time. Material lust took control over conventional matters. The daughters, more often than not, were not welcomed by the brothers (generally due to their wives pressure). This combined with lack of education and absent of other alternatives, forced many daughters to suffer in silence. If they had children and a wayward husband who indulged in wasteful life with drinking being an eternal curse, the life was not only miserable but unbearable. Like in all other communities in our great country, the girls were forced to live a condemned life.

This is the time visionaries and forward looking Badaga leaders like Rao Badahur Ari Gowder insisted that the girl child should be educated and equal rights and property be given as the boys among Badagas. Empowering women. Now, even the laws in our country has been amended wherein the boys and girls have equal rights on the property of the parents.

Sadly, even in this day and time, in many hattis, the property is recommended to be given ONLY to sons by the so called hatti ‘elders’ in what can be termed as ‘kapp’ panjayats to sort out property disputes. As you may be aware KAPP panjayats are popular male dominated forums in Hariyana and wester UP who had given the ‘OK’ for honour killings, acting as extra constitutional authorities and are in trouble as Supreme Court is looking into their actions.

The problem is, in olden days a complaint was made to the common wisdom of hatti elders when the disputes could not be solved within the family – Kudumba. The Badaga proverb – doddaru shloka – ‘manay ya maathaadi, mandaga hogu’ aptly describes this. Also, in olden days, the options of going to the court or seeking remedy through legal channels were not easy. Tthe ‘core committee’ of elders looking into complaints was made up of non partisan, experienced and where available educated people and their rulings were acceptable to all.

These days, in most of the hattis the ‘Gowda’ chosen is the one who does not have a permanent or regular job as he has to attend to a lot social functions both in his as well as in other hattis. Other members of the ‘problem solving’ group are youngsters selected for collection of tax – wari and to organise temple festivals – habbas etc. By no stretch of imagination, they can can be considered as competent or qualified and least of all experience which is a must.

And, most importantly, when it comes to property allocation to daughters, how can these panjayats go against the law of the land? The feeble argument that only a son can be called a ‘WARISU’ is blatantly brutal, one sided, gender biased and ‘anti-female’ like many other social issues in our society.

A personal note:

We have a son and a daughter. We have educated them in the best of schools like Lawrence School, Lovedale and both have done their Masters from Canada and USA. Our [two] flats in New Delhi and Bangalore along with our property in the Nilgiris and Mettupalayam have been equally divided between these two. Rao Bahadur Ari Gowder, the only Badaga leader who is still remembered even after forty years of his death, gave his property equally to his two grand daughters and one grandson along with their mother. Being his nephew and grand daughter, I and my wife would like to follow his footsteps.

Karu Harachodhu

Karu Harachodhu

In his book, THE GOLDEN BOUGH – A STUDY IN MAGIC AND RELIGION (1922) Sir James George Fraser (1854 – 1941) mentioned the following :-
Among the Badagas of the Neilgherry Hills in Southern India, when a death has taken place, the sins of the deceased are laid upon a buffalo calf.For this purpose the people gather round the corpse and carry it outside of the village. There an elder of the tribe, standing at the head of the corpse, recites or chants [known as - "KARU HARUCHODU"] a long list of sins such as any Badaga may commit, and the people repeat the last word of each line after him.

Badaga Dance

Badaga dance is all about grace and style. It is a wonderful sight when a group of ladies dance together. During the funeral, the ladies of the parental village [hatti] of the deceased woman, dance going around the cot [kattalu] to the music provided by the 'host' hatti musicians.
Badaga Dance

Wg Cdr Bellie Jayaprakash, the 'All-in-One' of this site. Started as a hobby but now an obsession.

Even when I was down with poverty and sat at the front court yard,
Even when the near and dear ones despised and deserted,
My mother who gave birth, cared for and brought me up,
Did not blame me and did not reject me- her son, as bad

Even when I toiled as a Cooli with a bent back,
Even when I sat down with my looks dulled and dirty,
Even when I wore patched up old clothes,
My mother never said that I was down ; never rejected me as poor!

Even when I entered the stables and cleaned the dung,
Even when I sat on the rock and tendered the cows,
Even when I lifted loads to earn so as to suppress the hunger,
My mother never found any fault ; never scolded me as ignorant.

Athikkodhu & Karu Harachodhu

The beauty about Badaga community is not only the unique customs specific to the community but the steadfast belief with which atleast some of them are followed by Badagas. One of them is the loud chanting of ‘Athikkodhu – EAY AH HOW – on certain but specific occasions. It is said that in earlier days [hundreds of years back], when the Badaga villages [hattis] were separated by thick jungle forests , 'athikkindu Hoppadhu ' - traversing the forest with loud athikkodhu chant - kept the wild animals away.

Three occasions, when this loud chanting takes place, come to mind immediately,
1)During “Hethay Habba’ – both when from every village the devotees go to Hethay temples at Beragani and Peddhuva [as well as when the Hethay deity from Hethai Gudi is taken to ‘Madi Halla -river’ for change into new dress once a year].Also, and whenever a hatti temple deity is taken on procession during habbas in hattis],
2) During weddings when the bride and groom are brought to the ‘Madhuvay Mane – wedding house' and the newly weds are taken to the temple and
3) On funerals when the widow is brought for ‘olay Kattodhu’ and the ‘akki eththuva ‘ procession starts from the ‘dhodda Mane’ to ‘saavu hanay ‘ where the corpse/body is kept before being taken for burial.

This loud ‘chanting /cry’ is made from the bottom of the stomach by a few leading the procession and repeated by the rest following them.

I have given the ‘live’ recordings of this unique chanting (recorded during a wedding [the band playing in the background] at Thambatty

More than 572,000 hits…

That is a lot of hits for a website [weblog] on BADAGA that is focused on a small community of the Blue Mountains - the Nilgiris, in the southern part of India. Is it due to...

the urge to know the unknown about ourselves....

to sift the truth from fiction....the satisfaction that we have a very unique history.....the mystery about the mistaken migration.....the traditions that are still steadfastly followed.....the great language that has survived for centuries without a script...

The simple fact that this site's motto of 'Proud to be a Badaga ; Proud to be an Indian' has become an accepted norm...

You all, my dear friends, have made me bow my head in gratitude.

Proud to be an Indian and proud to be a Badaga, indeed.

Hope to say - 'thanks a million' soon...

Wg Cdr Bellie Jayaprakash, is the 'All-in-One' of this site. He says that he started this site as a hobby but now it has become an obsession.This website crossed the milestone of 100,000 visitors on 8-3-2010, 150,000 visitors on 20-4-2011, 200,000 visitors on 6-4-2012 , 250,000 on 22-1-2013, 300,000 hits on 6-1-2014, 350,000 on 6-1-15 and 400,000 on 13 -11-2015550000 hits on 1 Jan 2018. Feel humbled but proud

Golden Voice of Kerban Bella Gowder

Kerban Bella Gowder, a great Badaga Singer

Badaga Songs

Listen to these Badaga melodies as you browse

Dance Numbers Sad Songs

Letter

Thomas Chandy (thomaschandy@gmail.com) writes:-
"This is my first visit to this site and was surprised to know how ignorant I have been about the Badaga community. All that I have read makes me hang my head in shame for I have been growing up in the Nilgiris, among the Badagas and I was so ignorant about their origin,culture and so on. This write up is very informative and useful and may the Badaga community grow and spread through the whole world and prosper".

"Thank you Thomas. I am humbled at your kind words. May I hope that the Badagas will live up to your hopes, and thank you once again on behalf of the Badaga community – Wg Cdr JP"

Letter

Anand Ramachandran(Muttinadu) writes :This is the the first time I am visiting this site.... It took 5 hours to go through this site, you have done a fantastic job. Its just like a bible for our next generation. Thanks for your commitment!

Badaga

From the heart

Do you feel very strongly about any issue concerning Badaga Community? Have the urge to pour your heart out ? Feel free to express yourself without any inhibition and send them tobjaypee@gmail.com

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Save the TIGER

Tiger is HULI in Badaga Lanuage

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Bhuvaneshwari R writes :- This website is one of the best I have seen. Didn’t think I would find so much detail about our culture.
The history of origin of Badagas is quite fascinating. Photos are also really great.
Really good to see someone do an effort to spread awareness.Thank you…
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Here are some great Hethey songs!

Song uploaded in Soundcloud by Suresh M

Needs & Greeds

Here's a question that was posed to the Dalai Lama:

"What thing about humanity surprises you the most?"

His answer is : "MAN - Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he doesn't enjoy the present,

And as a result he doesn't live in the present or the future. And he lives as if he's never going to die and then he dies having never really lived".

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600,000 hits and counting

That is a lot of hits for a website [weblog] on BADAGA that is focused on a small community of the Blue Mountains - the Nilgiris, in the southern part of India. Is it due to...

the urge to know the unknown about ourselves....

to sift the truth from fiction....the satisfaction that we have a very unique history.....the mystery about the mistaken migration.....the traditions that are still steadfastly followed.....the great language that has survived for centuries without a script...

The simple fact that this site's motto of 'Proud to be a Badaga ; Proud to be an Indian' has become an accepted norm...

You all, my dear friends, have made me bow my head in gratitude.

Proud to be an Indian and proud to be a Badaga, indeed.

Hope to say - 'thanks a million' soon...

Wg Cdr Bellie Jayaprakash, is the 'All-in-One' of this site. He says that he started this site as a hobby but now it has become an obsession.This website crossed the milestone of 100,000 visitors on 8-3-2010, 150,000 visitors on 20-4-2011, 200,000 visitors on 6-4-2012 , 250,000 on 22-1-2013, 300,000 hits on 6-1-2014, 350,000 on 6-1-15 and 400,000 on 13 -11-2015550000 hits on 1 Jan 2018.600000 hits on Sep 2018 Feel humbled but proud